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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • North German : from Middle Low German koppel ‘enclosed common pasture’, hence a topographic name for someone living near such pasture, or possibly a status name for a commoner, i.e. someone who had the right to use such land for his livestock.
  • German : from the Silesian dialect word Köppel ‘head’, a nickname for someone with a visible deformity or peculiarity of the head.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from the Yiddish personal name kopl, a pet form of Jakob (see Jacob).

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